M.2024.184.6
Shawl (Palledar)
India, Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir region
1840s
Goat-fleece underdown twill double-interlocking tapestry-weave, pieced
48 x 96 in.
This dynamic rectangular shawl, called a palledar, features a central field filled with rows of prominent, regularly spaced butas amid a flurry of small foliate patterning. A tendency to fill formally voided areas of the shawls made in Kashmir, located in the northwestern Indian subcontinent, grew in tandem with increased demand from European and Persian markets and their aesthetic preferences. The palledar ends feature a single row of large butas surrounded by hooked vines, a style that gained popularity in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Interestingly, almost hidden within the dense decor of the flowering shapes are multicolored harlequin-style cypress trees, a nod to the enduring influence of Indo-Islamic art and design.
Kashmir shawls like this one were prized for their luxurious feel, light weight, and warmth, and were popular globally. Their preciousness resides in the extraordinary tactile properties of ultra-fine pashm fibers, which were brushed from the soft underdown hair of Capra hircus (goats) that roamed the Himalayas hundreds of miles from Kashmir. The imported fibers were processed, spun, and woven into shawls decorated with buta and floral motifs, achieved with tapestry weaving on a standard horizontal loom. Unlike any other tapestry-woven fabrics in the world, Kashmir shawls were made with a two-by-two twill weave throughout, with wefts double-interlocking at the transition between each colored thread to prevent slit openings. These textiles required an extremely high level of skill to weave and were laborious to produce, especially as designs became progressively more intricate—even labyrinthine—through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Known locally as kani, this technique resulted in textiles with the astounding clarity of design and cohesiveness in the drape of the fabric unique to Kashmir shawls.
Clarissa M. Esguerra
2024